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sunking101

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2013
7,416
2,657
Well, for EVs, it means higher resale value if it retains more of the original range. Limiting to 80% means the battery won’t lose capacity nearly as quickly, and when you need the full range 5 years down the line, it won’t have an issue delivering, vs. having some capacity loss and needing a charge because you wanted to let it go to 100% every time you charged and didn’t need the range.

My old iPhone SE had that constant 100% charging routine before I acquired it. It would shut off at 25% charge if it was cold and wasn’t able to boot up from my car charger. The devices I’ve owned for the majority of their lives that get the 80-90% treatment can go all the way to 1% and stay there a bit before they shut down.

And no, it’s nothing like filling a gas tank. It’s more like tire pressure. Sure, you can run them at Max pressure all the time and get the best energy economy, but you’ll wear out the center treads prematurely and the risk of a blowout increases exponentially.

You buy a case to protect the phone but end up torturing it internally because “runtime”.
Sounds like the battery meter just needed recalibration. If you don't let the battery fully charge and fully discharge occasionally the meter will show incorrectly and the battery will die way before the meter reads 0%.
 
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reppans

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2006
315
187
And no, it’s nothing like filling a gas tank.
Well said…. and as to utilizing maximum capacity all the time, as a motor/moto sport enthusiast, I think the best analogy would be engine, brakes, and tires - the ultimate limitations on motor vehicles, arguably just as the batteries are to smartphones.

If you’re competitive/racing, yeah you want shift at redline, stand on the brakes as hard as possible, corner at max lateral Gs, every chance you get. Then you can change the brake pads/tires every race, and rebuild the motor every few races - that comes with the territory.

However as an enthusiast driver/rider on public roads, call it ‘mechanical empathy’ or whatever, I just prefer the 50-ish% utilization category - typically operating between 1/3-2/3rds range of my vehicle’s capabilities - that just feels to be the right sweet spot. A thousand HP Bugatti in NYC traffic would kill the car, and wringing my 250 dualsport on a spirited road trip with my liter-class buddies would kill it. Use the right tool for the job.

iPhone’s are spec’ing well into the 20–something hours of SOT these days, and folks might be surprised at how easy it is to get close to the ‘up to’ spec, just by turning-off a few things you don’t use, don’t care about, or even may not realize is consuming power… and some battery savings features may even improve performance. Examples: Apple using your phone/battery as an AirTag crowdsource beacon and the WiFi-calling feature (1 cellular bar in my home).

My phone’s SOT is into the teens hrs - I only have time for half that in day, so ~50% cycling is fine for me, and I can always charge higher for the occasional backpacking trip.
 

Jackbequickly

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 6, 2022
2,520
2,579
Yes, agree it's baffling how some people think...

I run into this all day on a FB page I moderate for EV Truck owners.

Some want to only limit their EV charge to 80% thinking they will make the battery last longer and own it past the 8 year warranty period...

I don't keep vehicles past 4 or 5 years (normally 2-3 years) so 80% charge is ridiculous.

Every charge goes to 100% as I am not going to shortchange my vehicle's range for the "happy 80% number"....

Why would you fill you gas tank to 80% each time you refill ?
Is it to go visit the gas pump more often ?

Just don't understand....
Filling your gas tank to 100% does not decrease it’s future capacity.
 

MrTSolar

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2017
357
442
@reppans Exactly right. My Tesla has dual motors and can accelerate with brisk, but I drive it in Chill mode. It saves my tires, it’s safer overall, it’s kinder to the driveline, and it’s easier to modulate the power while cruising (throttle response is dampened). I charge it to 100% occasionally when driving long-distance, but it only goes to 80 or 90% weekly (charged once a week when I get below 30%, same routine as my phone and laptop). But when needed, both the range and the power are available.

My MacBook has AlDente installed with a 70% limit set for day to day. Lately, it’s been living at home and used like a desktop, so I dropped it to a 40% limit. Battery health is still happily at 100%, with the once every two months 100% charge to balance and re-calibrate everything. I’m planning to keep this MacBook long-term, and a full charge just isn’t necessary with the M1 most days.

Maybe if people realized what goes into making our things, we’d treat them better. That’s one of the many reasons I advocate for longer device life, treating devices and equipment better (so many people love to blame the battery when justifying short life cycles), and using less material overall. It’s a struggle (especially for a tech enthusiast like me that has many devices), but I’m making progress on minimizing my footprint, starting with making all future purchases either used or refurbished items, not new.
 
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reppans

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2006
315
187
…That’s one of the many reasons I advocate for longer device life, treating devices and equipment better (so many people love to blame the battery when justifying short life cycles), and using less material overall……. minimizing my footprint

Yup, same - I like taking care of my gear and using it for a long time, and I’m not budget constraint. Lol, for me it it’s actually more about doing all the research, accessorizing, learning/testing, set-up, fine-tuning, etc. to get piece of gear just perfect for my needs.. that I just hate to restart the process every couple years. But such is the nature of our materialistic, disposable, consumer society.

Folks don’t realize how long Li-ions can last, with even simple hassle-free automations. And also there’s the conventional wisdom that heat is the #1 battery stress factor, when all the credible, corroborating scientific research I’ve seen implies that heat is actually #2 behind high SoC.

52248945888_ed98220dbb_o_d.jpg


As an EV owner with a serious investment in Li-ions, have you seen THIS great article?
 
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allenvanhellen

macrumors 6502a
Dec 8, 2015
592
1,197
Yes, agree it's baffling how some people think...

I run into this all day on a FB page I moderate for EV Truck owners.

Some want to only limit their EV charge to 80% thinking they will make the battery last longer and own it past the 8 year warranty period...

I don't keep vehicles past 4 or 5 years (normally 2-3 years) so 80% charge is ridiculous.

Every charge goes to 100% as I am not going to shortchange my vehicle's range for the "happy 80% number"....

Why would you fill you gas tank to 80% each time you refill ?
Is it to go visit the gas pump more often ?

Just don't understand....
Other people probably keep their vehicles/phones longer than you.

If filling a gas tank to 100% instead of 80% meant needing to replace the tank demonstrably sooner, then YES, I would not go past 80% on a regular basis UNLESS I needed to. Again, I and many other people do not need 100% battery charge-ups on a daily basis.
 
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4sallypat

macrumors 68040
Sep 16, 2016
3,494
3,300
So Calif
Other people probably keep their vehicles/phones longer than you.

If filling a gas tank to 100% instead of 80% meant needing to replace the tank demonstrably sooner, then YES, I would not go past 80% on a regular basis UNLESS I needed too. Again, I and many other people do not need 100% battery charge-ups on a daily basis.
Apparently so.

I don't keep my iPhones past 2 years and my vehicles past 4 or 5 years.

100% is the only easy to remember charge cycle for me.
 

MrTSolar

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2017
357
442
Maybe if people realized what goes into making our things, we’d treat them better. - Edited by Moderator
Apparently, we're not ALLOWED to discuss how our stuff is made, so how are we able to justify wanting our devices to last longer, to take better care of them, and convince others to do the same? I'm tired of having my opinions silenced, so an article touching on the topic of phone longevity can be found here:


A free account is likely needed to view the articles. Just a heads up, as well. If anyone found any of my posts helpful, you might want to go screenshot them. I don't have the resources to put thought and effort into posts just to have them deleted or edited by someone else, so from now on, my writing is only going to be posted at the link above, and all my posts here are going to be deleted by October 30, by me. This is my last post.
 
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foliovision

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2008
183
83
Bratislava
The pushback against egocentric and selfish anti-ecological, anti-maximise device value crowd resulted in my post being deleted. Apparently something similar happened to MrTSolar.

If I wanted to hang out on the Apple discussion forums where moderators with 30,000 empty posts about reformatting your device and updating to the latest OS or just buy the latest computer/phone/iPad blithely close discussions one after another, then that's where I would go. Perhaps naively, I expected more from MacRumors.

Curiously enough my supporter subscription at Macrumors.com expired yesterday. Because of what happened on this thread, I won't be renewing it. If long time members and contributors and supporters (I qualify as all three) are not allowed to openly state their opinions and push back against the Apple-right-or-wrong crowd, I no longer feel inclined to contribute financially.
 
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